It has matured, it's done its thing, it's produced its seed, and now its life cycle is over.

The next one I wanna talk about is the biennial life cycle.

Bi meaning two, so this particular life cycle, the plant lives for two years.

The first year, it's really a vegetative life cycle.

You're gonna see we're gonna get germination from the seeds, again, it's gonna grow, and it's gonna produce what they call a rosette of low-growing foliage, if you will.

It's not gonna produce much height in the first year.

Now, one of the things you'll see is it's developing a very sound root system.

In this particular case, this is wild carrot, and it's producing this underground tuber that's growing in size, and it's gonna provide a storehouse of energy.

So, come the second year, it's gonna have energy to start growing.

And that's what we see here in the second year.

The second year is really the reproductive year versus the year one that was mainly vegetative.

So, it's gonna grow, but now it's gearing up to start producing seed.

So, you're gonna get much higher growth, it's gonna shoot up, and it's gonna flower and seed at the end of year two.

After it's produced seed, basically the two-year life cycle is over, and it's gonna die.

Regardless of the weather conditions, it's only gonna live two years.

But you can see it's produced lots of seeds.

You have a seed bank with lots of soil that will germinate, depending on the climatic conditions.

The last life cycle I wanna look at is the perennial, perennial meaning more than two years.

And in fact, some perennials can live for a long time.

Eight, 10, 15, 20 years is not uncommon.

Perennial means it's gonna live year after year.

So, the first year, we get seed germination, although they can also sprout from plant parts if you go on in and let's say cut some of the plant parts trying to maybe cultivate your garden or the farm field.

Those plant parts can take root and sprout.

Anyhow, the first year, you're gonna get development.

They're gonna grow.

The key thing to keep in mind with the perennial is they typically have a very extensive root system.

You can see here in year one we have the root system, but as we go into year two, it's gonna really take off.

There you see the root system, and the other thing you'll see is it'll send up new plants from that root system.

So, as it spreads, you'll see more above ground plants appearing.

So, then we move to year two, and now we're gonna start seeing production of seed.

If not in year two, the following years.

You have a mature plant.

We have a very extensive root system.

We're seeing how it's spreading by producing more plants coming up through the soil from the root system.

So, now you have a real mess.

You have a plant that's very difficult to control because it has a massive root system.

We can sometimes kill the top growth, but if you don't kill the roots, it's gonna come back on you.

So, again, you see a very difficult to control weed.

So, there you have it, the four life cycles of weeds.

The summer annual, the winter annual, the biennial, and the perennial.

I should mention that the biennial that takes two years, only broadleaf weeds exhibit the biennial life cycle.

The other ones, annuals and the perennials, we can see that with not only broadleaf, but also in the grasses as well.

Okay, I hope that helps you understand the different life cycles of weeds.

Now please contact us at Pesticide Education if you have any additional questions.